New institutional theory and AI: toward rethinking of artificial intelligence in organizations

Abstract

Purpose– Thisstudy, a theoretical article, aims to introduce new institutionalism as a framework through which business and management researchers can explore the significance of artificial intelligence (AI) in organizations. Although the new institutional theory is a fully established research program, the neoinstitutional literature on AI is almost non-existent. There is, therefore, a need to develop a deeper understanding of AI asboththeproductofinstitutionalforces andas an institutional force in its ownright. Design/methodology/approach– Theauthorsfollowthetop-down approach.Accordingly,theauthors f irst briefly describe the new institutionalism, trace its historical development and introduce its fundamental concepts: institutional legitimacy, environment and isomorphism. Then, the authors use those as the basis for the queries to perform a scopingreview ontheinstitutionalrole of AI inorganizations. Findings– The findings reveal that a comprehensive theory on AI is largely absent from business and management literature. The new institutionalism is only one of many possible theoretical perspectives (both contextually novel and insightful) from which researchers can study AI in organizational settings. Originality/value– The authors use the insights from new institutionalism to illustrate how a particular social theory can fit into the larger theoretical framework for AI in organizations. The authors also formulate four broad research questions to guide researchers interested in studying the institutional significance of AI. Finally, the authors include a section providing concrete examples of how to study AI-related institutional dynamics inbusinessandmanagement.